


Is that my shirt?

by flickerbyniall



Series: Prompts [2]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-06
Updated: 2018-04-06
Packaged: 2019-04-19 01:51:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14226504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flickerbyniall/pseuds/flickerbyniall
Summary: Niall is living in Harry's house.Harry doesn't like it.





	Is that my shirt?

The first time Harry sees him is in one of his mom’s Instagram stories.

He doesn’t see a lot of him, it’s just ten seconds of a brunette boy trying to carry five plastic bags full of groceries, as his mom laughs, telling him he doesn’t have to do it all at once. Harry doesn’t think about it too much. Could be just a nice guy helping his mother carry the things out of her car.

Things get weird in September, when his mom posts an actual pic of this guy on her Instagram account, sleeping on _his_ sofa, cuddling Dotty, captioned as “ _#SleepyBirthdayBoy_ ” and tagging some people called Bobby and Maura. Which confuses Harry because he can’t remember his mom mentioning a brunette boy since he came back to the States to start his final semester. So when Gemma posts a picture of both of them with other people in an Irish pub later that day, he decides to call his mom.

He tries really hard to keep the small talk natural but after fifteen minutes of his mom talking about some pumpkin pie receipt that she found on Pinterest, he finally asks her about the guy in their pictures.

_“Didn’t I tell you? Oh my god! I must have been so distracted! His name is Niall, he’s Irish and he’s an exchange student in London for this semester! I applied to the program pretty late because I was missing you already, so we got him just a couple of days before starting classes. He’s a sweetheart. You’d love him”_

But the thing is, Harry doesn’t love him. Not a bit, and he may be a little jealous that he gets to see his mom every day, eat her food, hang out with his sister and possibly sleep in his bed.

_“If you come home early for holidays you can meet him!”_

*

Harry tries to wrap his head around the idea of another man living in his house, especially after losing Robin. He is concerned about his mother and Gemma, they don’t know this Niall guy and he feels like his mom is still too vulnerable to let a stranger enter into her life. For all he knows this Irish lad could be taking advantage of her with no one around to notice or protect her.

There’s something weird about him too, he’s always smiling in his mom’s videos and laughing unnecessarily loud. No one is that happy all the time. It’s like he has all the ladies in Harry’s life under a spell, and yes he is referring to _Dotty_ too. She looks incredibly cuddly in that boy’s arms, Gemma even posted a picture of her sleeping on his shoulders and when his mom posts videos of Niall playing the guitar or singing, Dotty is right at his feet and Harry is _mad_.

So he doesn’t get him anything during his Christmas shopping and pretends to be disappointed when his mom tells him he’s already in Ireland to celebrate with his family. But Harry can’t ignore the Irish flag above his bed when he puts his luggage in _his_ childhood room, or the clothes that aren’t his in the wardrobe, or the lotions, shampoo and toothbrush in his bathroom. Harry feels replaced and it hurts a little too much than it should.

But he doesn’t say anything because he has missed his family too much to being distracted by something that insignificant. He ends up forgetting about it the second his mom calls him for dinner, anyways.

*

Anne and Gemma come to Los Angeles for Harry’s graduation and they stick around for over a week. The three of them are a mess at the ceremony. His mom is constantly crying and repeating in his ear how proud she is of all his accomplishments every time she hugs him, and Gemma couldn’t hide her smile the entire time. He drives them around the city, showing them his favorite spots and treats them for dinner in some nice places. Harry is pretty sure his mom ran out of memory on her phone after all the pictures she took.

It was worth it, he is happy to have his family with him when the fashion magazine he was working at for his internship as a photographer offered him a full-time job. Everything is falling into place and his adult life was starting to develop terrifyingly well. But when he hugs them goodbye at the airport, he feels empty.

*

It’s only two months later that when Harry decides to surprise his mom by visiting her. He hasn’t called her or texted her in the last two days to build anticipation, he hasn’t even told Gemma, so no one picks him up from the airport and no one helps him out with his bags getting out of the taxi, but it’s okay, Harry is excited to see the reaction on his mom’s face.

He bites back the smile that’s starting to grow on his face when he rings the doorbell and lets his bags fall at his feet to spread his arms out the moment the door opens. But his smile disappears completely from his face and his arms hit his sides so fast when he notices the person in front of him is not his mom or even Gemma. 

It’s the guy from his mom’s stories cleaning his hands with a cloth, smiling at him, showing all of his teeth, looking so comfortable in _his_ house with sweatpants and _is he wearing…?_

“Is that my shirt?” Harry asks annoyed.

The smile on the boy’s face slowly drops as he watches the shirt he’s wearing, “Uhm, it’s very likely”, he laughs, “I’m Niall, Anne’s in the kitchen making lunch and you must be Harry…” he extends his arm to shake Harry’s hand but he ducks down to take his bags and enters the house, hitting Niall’s shoulder as he goes.

“Mom?” Harry yells when he gets into the living room, taking a moment to enjoy the smell of the pasta his mom is making and trying not to sound mad when she sees him. Dotty is lying on the couch when she hears his voice and immediately jumps to rub his legs, Harry smiles and ducks down to pet her head.

“Harry?” Anne’s head pops out of the kitchen and the smile on her face is the reason Harry couldn’t wait to come back home.

And when he runs to hug him, he forgets about Niall standing in the door frame looking at them with a gentle smile on his face and the cloth in his hand. He holds his mom tightly before placing a kiss on her cheek.

“This is a surprise! Why didn’t you tell me you were coming? Niall and I could have picked you up from the airport! Does Gemma know?” his mom says with excitement as she places her hands on his arms.

Harry is not liking how familiar Niall’s name drops out his mom’s mouth, like he is a daily thought on her mind, like he already made himself at home when he was supposed to be just here for one semester. Well, the semester finished two months ago and he’s still under his mom’s roof, wearing _his_ clothes, eating his food.

“No, I didn’t tell anybody, I wanted it to be a surprise.” Harry smiles and kisses his mother’s hand, “What are you cooking?”

She smiles big and takes her son’s hand, dragging him to the kitchen, leaving his luggage on the floor, “Niall and I are making pasta! He’s such a good cook!”

“Is he?” Harry turns to Niall, who followed them to the kitchen with a smile on his face and rosy cheeks to match. Harry doesn’t buy it for a second.

“It’s all you, Anne, I just cooked the beans.” Niall’s voice is strong, Harry can hear his Irish accent under the sweetness of his tone. He doesn’t like it.

“He’s lying! He bought me this wonderful Jamie Oliver’s book two weeks ago, Harry” his mom smiles “We’re trying the Cannelloni Pasta today.”

“Oh, and why is that? He doesn’t like your food?” Harry hasn’t taken his eyes off Niall since they stepped into the kitchen, trying to catch the minimum change in his expression to support his theories, but the moment the words came out of his mouth, Niall’s face changes completely, he frowns and his mouth opens, ready to reply.

Anne laughs, slapping Harry’s arm before checking the oven “He’s messing with you, honey.” His mom is an angel because either she doesn’t feel the tension in the room or she prefers to ignore it.

“Oh! Have you introduce yourselves?” Anne says, standing up to walk to Niall and hold his hand so she can be in the middle of the two of them.

Harry is the one to extends his arm this time, Niall stares at him as he takes his hand and shakes it, “Harry, I’ve heard you been sleeping in my room.”

Niall clears his throat, finally realizing the energy Harry is carrying towards him, “I’m Niall.”

*

“I’ll sleep on the couch.” Niall says.

Harry turns to the voice behind him the moment he steps into his childhood room. It’s all the same as the last time he was here. The Irish flag on the wall, the guitar in the corner of the room and those boots in boxes piled up inside of his closet. He briefly looks at Niall before dropping his bags on the bed.

“Yes, you are.”

Niall walks in and Harry can almost feel him breathing on his neck, “Do you have a problem with me?”

Harry takes fresh clothes out of his hands and turns to stand in front of Niall.

“No, Niall. I don’t have anything against you, and if you don’t mind, I’d like to take a shower, it has been a pretty long flight” Harry points the bathroom with his eyes and Niall steps aside, allowing Harry to get in.

When Harry comes out of the shower, Niall is not in the room and the door is closed.

*

Gemma comes home for dinner after yelling at his brother over the phone for not letting her know he was coming to visit, which doesn’t really matter the moment she jumps to his arms and hugs him, laughing right into his ear. Michal is with her and he’s laughing at the scene, she presses Harry’s cheeks together one last time before walking into the kitchen to help their mom. Harry hugs Michal after he asks for Niall.

“He’s out getting some wine I think” Is all that Harry says.

“The guy is great, isn’t he? I have tickets for a football match in two weeks” Michal smiles after looking at Harry, with terror in his eyes, “You don’t like football, right?”

Harry laughs, placing his hand on Michal’s shoulder, “No, I don’t”

Eventually, Niall comes back with an expensive bottle of wine that may or may not be Harry’s favorite. He opens the front door with his own pair of keys and kisses his sister’s cheek before hugging her boyfriend and leaving the wine in the middle of the table.

Anne calls everyone to sit and Harry pretends to not be able to get up off the couch because of Dotty lying on his chest until Gemma takes his hand to help him to stand up. He walks with his arm over her shoulders until she pushes him away to go sit with her boyfriend, so obviously, he ends up sitting next to Niall.

Harry says he’s staying for a week without revealing the real reason for his visit, he wants to be sure about this before telling his family about it, also, he only wants his _family_ to know about this, not a stranger who laughs too loud and eats too fast.

Michal asks him about his job and his life in LA and Harry tries to keep things light because there’s not much to tell after only two months, so Gemma asks about new tattoos or new rings and his mom gives him the same look she has every time Harry shows a new draw in his skin. The thing is, Niall is also looking at his arms, very close to be precise, almost breathing on his skin with his lips sealed and his eyes dancing from one tattoo to another, like he hasn’t seen anything like it before, so Harry rolls his shirt over, hiding his tattoos like he’s a pissed twelve-years-old.

Harry has been trying to catch little things about the Irish guy, like how constantly he bites his nails or plays with his hair when other people are talking, which makes him thing he’s always nervous. Or how he always had some story to tell or a theme of conversation when the vibe is slowly dying, and he they had met in different situations, Harry thinks he may have actually liked him.

They are almost finished when Harry decides to ask.

“So, Niall” he turns to Harry after giving a final bite to his steak, “I’ve heard you’re an exchange student? A semester kind of thing? How old are you?”

Niall smiles before taking another drink of his beer, because apparently he doesn’t like wine and has a six-pack of beers in his mom’s fridge, “I’m twenty-four and…”

“Niall is doing his masters,” Anne replies quickly, “At the end of the semester we went to the organization to ask for a renewal, so they won’t sort Niall into another house”

“Master in what?” Harry hasn’t taken his eyes off Niall, and he can feel the energy just changed in the room by the way Gemma is moving in her chair.

“Business” Niall finally replies.

“Interesting” he says before finishing off his plate and smiling at his mom.

*

Harry’s been in the house for four days now and so far his mom tried to convince Niall to sleep in Gemma’s old room instead of the couch every day, which he kindly declines every time. He has complete control of the remote and doesn’t exercise at all. Never wakes up before 10 in the morning and his classes don’t even start until next week, making him be in the house all day if he’s not out with his friends having a drink.

It’s like his mom doesn’t see how useless is this guy besides the fact he helps cleaning the house and to go for groceries, but she keeps asking him if he’s hungry, if he already called Maura and how she’d like to talk to her – who apparently is Niall’s mother –, if he recorded the last Derby game so they all can watch it together. And Harry feels he’s living in another house. In a house where they eat take-out and the fridge has beer, or a house where they watch sports and Dotty is not always in her bed.

Everything has changed and Harry doesn’t know how to handle that fact. Gemma calls saying she wants to take the boys for a ride on the bikes the next day and Harry is already pissed off. Why do they have to take Niall with them? Harry is the one visiting. Haven’t they noticed that yet? So when Niall returns with a paper bag full of bagels, croissants and macaroons for Anne around six in the afternoon and after he kisses Anne’s cheek and she tells him about Gemma’s plans tomorrow, Harry can’t help himself.

“Don’t you have a job, Niall?” he turns to Harry, keeping the smile on his face and Anne in his arm, hugging her, “It just seems funny to me how old you are and still not being able to pay for your own place”

Anne separates slowly to Niall and walks until she’s standing in front of Harry, he looks at the cookie jar because it’s the next best thing in the kitchen.

“Where is this coming from, Harry?” his mom’s voice sound deep and lightly concerned. Harry bites his lips to stop himself from saying something he’ll regret.

But it’s too late. The moment Niall approaches Anne with the intention of placing his hand on her back, Harry can't hold it anymore. “Don’t you see it, mom?! He’s taking advantage of you! He’s living here for free, eating your food, making you buy beers and pizza two nights a week, making Michal buy matches tickets and tricking Gemma into taking him to places!”

His mom stands there in shock, Niall steps back and slightly shaking his head, which infuriates Harry the most. He raises his finger in Niall’s direction but before he could say something, his mom speaks.

“What are you talking about?” she frowns and crosses her arms, “Niall fills up the fridge once a week, even when we haven’t finished things from last week, he buys me records to play on the vinyl player and he took your sister and her boyfriend to The Killers concert last week! He helps me cook and doesn’t complain when I make him dance with me in the living room, Harry! He’s a sweet boy who doesn’t deserve to be threaten like this!”

Harry is breathing really hard and puts his fists on his sides. His mom is not listening.

“No, mom!”

“That’s enough!” This time it’s Niall who’s yelling and they both turn around to look at him. “You’re screaming at your mom’s face and I won’t have it. Take your coat and walk with me, we’re going for coffee if you want to talk”

Niall takes his keys and leaves the kitchen in a numb silence. Harry clears his throat looking at the floor before he decides to follow him. The walk to the nearest coffee shop is quiet, Harry avoids eye contact and Niall is not really trying to start it either. They both order a cappuccino and Harry tries to pay for it before realizing he left his wallet at home.

They sit at the table without saying much. Niall takes a sip of his coffee as he looks out of the window. Harry doesn’t know what to do, he’s been wanting to talk alone with the boy in front of him all week but now that he has the chance, he doesn’t know how to start or what to say.

“Last year, I got offered an scholarship to study my masters here in London” Niall clears his throat, his eyes still at the window “I have a degree in Music and Sound Engineering in Dublin,” he smiles, like he is proud of himself and well, Harry guesses he should be. “My dad is a butcher, you know? My parents are not together, it was incredible they got to send me to Dublin to study, but when I finished they couldn’t afford the Mastering, so I tried everything to get here.” He finally looks at Harry, and he nods, waiting for the rest of the story.

“I wasn’t gonna stay in your mom’s house for too long, just a couple of months until I get a job and find an affordable place near college” Harry keeps listening, because there’s something in Niall’s voice that makes his chest hurt. “I wasn’t gonna tell this, there was no need for it, but you’re acting like an asshole and your mom doesn’t deserve it.”

“Tell me what? The fact that I don’t like you living alone with my mom? Gemma lives in the other part of the city and for your information: I’m coming back home. The company has a position open here in London and I’m pretty sure I’m gonna get it so…”

“I couldn’t leave your house because your mom is sad.” Niall interrupts, Harry’s mouth falls open and he looks at Niall like a second head suddenly popped out of his neck. “I hear her cry at nights and when she’s done, she knocks at my door and asks me if I’m in the mood for a movie or some episode of The Office”

Harry’s heart starts beating really fast and he can feel the tears in his eyes, “That’s not possible, I call here almost every day she always says she’s fine and…”

“I find her in the kitchen alone with a glass of wine in her hand staring out of the window when I come back from work, Harry, but she immediately smiles and asks me what do I want for dinner, like nothing happened,” Niall smiles, looking at Harry, “She misses everyone and I know it’s not my place but I feel that she would miss me too if I leave her and I don’t want her to feel alone, but if you’re coming back, there’s no reason for me to stay, give me a couple of weeks to find a place...”

But Harry is not listening anymore, he just sees Niall’s mouth moving, telling him something about his job in a recording studio and how great he thinks he is for all the things his mom has said about him. All Harry can think about is his mom and his heart breaks a little. He doesn’t realize the moment he starts crying, but Niall holds his hand immediately and even when Harry wants to be mad, he swueezes his fingers.

*

Harry is looking at Niall now. Really looking at him. He’s annoyed because the guy is handsome, Niall has a beautiful pair of blue eyes and a charming smile that seems to never lose. And maybe was the talk or the five beers they drank, but Harry can’t take his eyes off the brunette for a million different reasons now.

They’re in a bar because neither of them could come back home after drinking that coffee. Harry called his mom saying they were okay and it could take a little longer to come back. So Niall offered a beer and Harry felt like he needed one. The thing is, he understands why his family loves him so much, he’s sweet and funny and light and shiny, and everything in between. He laughs at his stupid jokes and he blushes when Harry talks in his ear because the music is too loud.

And Harry has a hand on his tight without even noticing the moment Niall finally meets his eyes. The alcohol is going through his veins and he feels everything heavier so he can’t bother to move, it’s not like Niall is asking him to.

“I wanted to contact you first, you know?” Niall accent is stronger when he’s drunk, Harry realizes as he speaks. “But I could only find the Instagram you use for your artistic pics”

Harry hold his face in his hand as he stares at him, confused. “I only have one account”

Niall frowns, biting his lips and Harry can’t help to look at it, “But you don’t have pictures of you in there”

He laughs and shakes his head, amused with the expression of surprise on Niall’s face, “I don’t like taking selfies, Niall”

“But why?” Harry smiles and has to mentally slaps himself to stop from doing something ridiculous like place his hand on Niall’s red cheek. He sounds so confused, “You’re gorgeous, breathtaking almost.”

Harry wasn’t expecting that answer, and maybe Niall wasn’t expecting to say that either because he’s looking everywhere but Harry and he’s clearing his throat when he feels lips crashing his own and he opens his mouth without even realizing.

The kiss is messy because they’re both drunk and they get touchy really quickly. Niall is pulling Harry’s hair and he moans from the back of his throat, and when he’s about to put his hands on his hips, he feels the barman taping his shoulders. Niall hides his face in his neck and Harry tries not to laugh as he takes Niall’s wallet and pays for the drinks.

They sit in the cab, laughing and avoiding to look at each other because the situation is absurd, but the moment the car stops in front of his mom’s house and Niall pays, getting out of the vehicle, Harry’s hands are all over him again, trying to catch his mouth but failing and kissing his neck as he tries to open the door.

Harry’s laughing at Niall’s ear, pulling out his coat when they finally made it inside. Niall kisses him quietly, trying not to make a noise when they realize the lights are on even when it’s almost one in the morning.

“I thought you said they were fighting.” Niall separates from Harry the moment he hears Gemma, and Harry hides his smile under his fist.

Anne’s mouth is wide open and Gemma has that smirk that his brother knows so well. Harry trips over trying to stand still next to Niall, so he holds to the brunette’s arm, looking his neck going red, matching his lips. He can’t seem to look at anyone in the eyes and Harry almost feels bad.

“I am so confused” Anne whispers, and before Niall can jump to explanations, Harry walks to her and kisses her cheek.

“We’ll talk tomorrow, I’m tired” he yawns and stretches his arms before turning to his sister and kisses her cheeks, making her yell and slap his arm.

He turns to Niall and slowly walks to him, “We’ll tell them tomorrow about the moving in and moving out, okay?” he whispers over his lips and Niall nods, “Goodnight.” Harry kisses him before he could react.

Harry knows he shouldn’t fall so easy with pretty boys, but as he goes upstairs he thinks that maybe Niall is not just another pretty boy.


End file.
